At Palace House (pictured above), originally the Abbey gatehouse, the Gregorian chanting of monks and ghostly footsteps are often heard. Many people have seen their ghostly forms in the Abbey ruins. Some have even said to have caught a whiff of incense in rooms of Palace House once used as chapels in the Middle Ages. According to legend, this olfactory manifestation signals tragedy for the people of the abbey or Beaulieu village.

 

There is no dearth of witnesses will testify to their presence, from Lord Montague to the gypsies of the New Forest. An interesting point is that all find these ghosts benevolent and not at all frightening. The abbey is also said to have a post-Reformation ghost, a grey lady who is seen in Palace House. She is said to be the shade of an 18th-century inhabitant of the house, Lady Isabella.